A comparative study of microstructural and magnetic properties of lsmo: NiFe2O4 nanocomposites prepared by microwave and solid state route

Abstract

The present work deals with the preparation and the characterization of nickel ferrite and lanthanum strontium manganese oxide composites. The composites were prepared in two different routes i.e. in-situ route and solid state routes. The composites were prepared with three different ratios of the phases in each individual route. The ratios were 20LSMO:80NFO, 40LSMO:60NFO and 50LSMO:50NFO. The composites synthesized were subjected to cauterization by XRD, SEM, DSC/TG and M-H curve. The values obtained from the composites prepared from the in-situ method were compared with the values obtained from simple solid state methods. There were differences in the porosity values of the two methods. All the samples are characterized using XRD and found to be rhombohedral LSMO and cubic NFO phases. The crystallite size was found to be less than 50 nm. From SEM it was seen that the porosity of in-situ process samples is more than that of solid state process. It was observed that as the concentration of the NFO in the samples increased the magnetic properties also improved. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) value for NFO comes out to be 52.7 emu/g and 74 Oe.